Friday, July 27, 2018

The Existential Planner

A financial planner works with people to sort through their individual financial problems and opportunities to create security in the long term.

An existentialist is more focused on freedom in the short term.  To a normal borrower, a 30-year mortgage is servitude, but finds it is worth being a servant in the long term.  To an existential borrower, it is 360 different questions.  Every month, an existential borrower will ask “is it still worth yet another month of servitude?”  (They probably deserve lower credit scores.)

The existentialist planner understands the expectation of death tomorrow, that is so common among existentialists, but nonetheless condemns “short-termism”.  You will never hear an existentialist planner say “what, you’ve been making $200 thousand a year for twenty years and haven’t saved a dime??  What’s wrong with you??”

The existentialist planner is far less judgmental.  Nobody is perfect!